Middlesex till we die - Well I Don't Declare

Well I Don't Declare - Middx v Essex Day Three

Nearly a Ton

By Ed the Duck June 8 2008
Ed the Duck reviews another excellent day of cricket at Lord's. He comments on the batting. He comments on the declaration that was not to be. He calls the skipper Shakespeare and the Bard with reckless abandon. He tells it as he saw it. Another must read for Middlesex fans, but strong meat for the Essex faithful.

AFTER Lords being alive with the sound of stilettos on Saturday for our first ever Ladies Day it was very much business as usual with the peaceful thud of leather on willow only being interrupted by the odd siren and police helicopter.

Travelling around London is becoming an experience to be avoided with no Central Line between Stratford and Liverpool Street and the signs for no Jubilee Line still being up despite it running, that aside I still managed to make the start of play.

Morning session

The order of the day was very much trying to pile on as many runs as possible before Shakespeare decided that enough was enough and declared.

The first 25 minutes was very much a statto’s idea of heaven with the 450 coming up in the third over, followed by Scott’s and Morgan’s century partnership, and Scott’s 50 all coming in the first 25 minutes of play.

And to be honest neither player was really troubled until Scott was trapped in front by Kaneria for 60 with the score on 482, and the fifth wicket fell.

Morgan had a century within reach when he smashed Middlebrook into the Mound Stand for a massive six.

Middlesexs Eoin Morgan during the LV County Championship Division Two match at Lords London.

Morgan in more circumspect mood

But he seemed to get too was excited partly because Tudor aside Middlebrook is probably the worst bowler in the Essex team and after dancing down the wicket once to often to Kaneria and ended up missing his middle and leg stumps four runs short of his ton.

The Iceman showed he wasn’t going to hang around with a quick fire 35 before he was caught by Masters off Kaneria low down in front of the mound 545-8 but blocking by Udal and Finn in the last few overs before lunch saw us add a further 13 runs before the break.

It must have been Mick Hunt’s day off because they let us take a “constitutional” on the outfield, a rare treat these days. [Editor's note; I believe I detected the dulcet tones of our old friend Mr Perambulate on the tannoy for this match]

Afternoon session.

Finn looked fine blocking but didn’t last long suffered the embarrassment of giving up his wicket 576-9 to Middlebrook (probably the worst bowler in the Essex side, Tudor aside) via a Flower catch and almost sensing the end was in sight with Dirk the Diggler at the other end Udal launched a six into the top tier of the Tavern Stand.

Diggler wasn’t keen to hang around much longer and it became obvious why later when he was bowled by Kaneria for 0 (583 all out) giving him figures of 7-157 and The Middle a lead of 422 with almost five sessions left to play.

Dial M and Finn opened up and the visitors looked nervous and edgy before the first of Shakespeare’s inspired bowling changes saw the Iceman claim Westley (35-1) thanks to a superb one handed catch by Scottie.

Then almost by magic he brought Diggler on at the Nursery End and with his first ball he lured Gallian into a really poor shot and Scottie again obliged to take the catch to send the alarm bells ringing in the visitors dressing room.

Bopara who was his side’s highest scorer in the first innings bought up the 50 with Flower and even survived a decent LBW appeal from Diggler, his partner didn’t look comfortable and was LBW to Diggler for 0 (60-3). It must be said that Diggler looked dangerous coming up the hill with plenty of pace and accuracy a combination that is always likely to bring wickets.

Essexs Ravi Bopara during the LV County Championship Division Two match at Lords London.

Sometimes these allrounders don't even know if they are batting or bowling.

Bopara (25) was knocking the ball around confidently and along with Pettini (0) saw his side through to tea with the score on 70-3.

Evening Session.

We resumed after tea with Finn and Dial M but unlike Diggler they seemed unable to cause the same problems with Ace’s chief rival Bopara for an ODI place quick to punish some of the short stuff.

Shaggy replaced Finn and Bopara dispatched him into the Mound Stand to bring up the 100 and he passed his 50 with a shot that flew over Scott’s head soon afterwards.

Shakespeare then repeated his earlier success with Digger at the Nursery End when Bopara edged his first ball back to Scottie behind the stumps to comfortably take his eighth catch of the game (119-4).

The Bard appeared to lose his touch when he tossed the ball to Ace to let Shaggy change ends to he went for 11 including a massive six off his last ball into the Grandstand and the fight back was well and truly on.

Diggler was denied another decent LBW appeal against Pettini turned down and he continued to look dangerous with almost every ball he sent down.

Pettini (63) and ten Doeschate (38) took their side through to 200-4 at stumps and with six wickets in hand they have plenty of work to do in the remaining three sessions to save the game.

Foot Note

I saw Compton in a motor in the car park as I walked out of the ground at the end and got a who knows shrug when I asked how his knee was after he had to go off when subbing for Morgan in the afternoon. [Editor's foot note: isn't yours a knee note rather than a foot note, Ed? - ed]

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